The invention relates to an apparatus for transferring articles, such as large packs, between a delivery or receiving plane and a depositing plane at a changing level, especially for transferring cartons supplied by delivery conveyors onto pallets, with an automatically operating, vertically movable pivoting conveyor receiving at least one carton each time.
Large packs or (large) cartons are stacked on pallets for dispatch. Recently, the pallets have been loaded by so-called robots, in particular automatically operating pivoting conveyors, in which a holder, conventionally a suction head, for grasping a carton or the like is attached to an articulated arm movable up and down and pivotable. At the same time, the pivoted conveyors are stationed next to the pallet and at the delivery end of a delivery conveyor, so that the pivoting arm takes up a carton from the delivery conveyor by means of the suction head, conveys it along an arcuate path and deposits it on the pallet or on a part stack which has formed.
As the stacking height of the cartons on the pallet increases, the articulated arm of the pivoting conveyor has to execute greater lifting movements between the delivery or receiving plane and the depositing plane on the pallet stack. This results in losses of time which can only be compensated to a limited extent by increasing the speed of movement.